THE PUBLIC EDITOR; Political Bias at The Times? Two Counterarguments.

By DANIEL OKRENT

Published: October 17, 2004

Last week, I argued in this space that The Times is not systematically biased in its campaign coverage -- a position that necessarily invites rebuttal. I consequently asked two prominent critics of The Times to take a whack at it. Leading off, Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University and the author most recently of ''Letters to a Young Activist''; batting second, Bob Kohn, a California lawyer and the author of ''Journalistic Fraud: How The New York Times Distorts the News and Why It Can No Longer Be Trusted.'' Next week, comments from readers. DANIEL OKRENT

The public editor serves as the readers' representative. His opinions and conclusions are his own. His address is Public Editor, The New York Times, 229 West 43rd Street, New York 10036-3959; or e-mail public@nytimes.com. Telephone messages: (212) 556-7652. The public editor's column appears at least twice monthly in this section, and both his Web journal and links to articles mentioned in the column can be found at nytimes.com/danielokrent.